Joseph was a leading keyboard player known for his jazz improvisations. Joseph was a leading keyboard player known for his jazz improvisations. Before leaping to his death from the 12th floor of a Bandra building on September 9, pianist Karan Joseph made calls to eight persons, six of which went unanswered. His last two calls, both international, made to a boy and a girl were eventually answered and lasted for 45 seconds and 58 seconds, respectively. The police are now waiting to record the statements of these two friends, one of whom has already flown into the country. Their statements and a report from the Forensic Science Laboratory will be crucial to unravel the reasons behind Joseph’s alleged suicide, the police believe. So far, based on the 11 statements recorded by the police, including that of Karan’s family and friends, it has emerged that Karan was torn between two groups of friends, both of which did not get along with each other. As a result, Joseph was being ignored by some of his friends, said police. Senior inspector of Bandra police station Pandit Thakeray said that Joseph was friends with a musician, Rohan Mazumdar, and his circle of friends for the past four years. A month back, he had met Rishi Shah and had moved to his 12th floor rented house at Concorde apartment in Bandra West from where he leaped to his death. Shah and Mazumdar did not get along well at all. Shah, CEO of Crossbones Media which publishes the Rave magazine that features musicians, had put up an offensive Facebook post about Rohan which he later deleted. “Rishi had told Joseph to not hang out with the likes of Mazumdar and play music with them as it would ruin his career. Mazumdar and his friends, on the other hand, asked Karan to be wary of Shah,” an officer said. Thakeray said, “Some friends of Joseph had met in the wee hours of September 9 in Bandra and Joseph had not been invited. Later, Joseph messaged a friend, Randolf, that he was “beaten”, which could mean mentally beaten. Randolf took Joseph to the party where he consumed some alcohol.” An officer said that even when he went there, he did not interact much with those present at the party. From there, he returned home around 7 am, where Rishi, his friend and a house help was present. He then made nearly six calls to his friends, none of whom answered the phone. The last two calls were made to two friends staying abroad who answered the calls. He then jumped to his death. Thakeray said, “In the statements that we have recorded so far, including those of Shah’s parents, there are no allegations against any person based on which we could make an arrest. We have sent blood samples of Karan, four mobile phones, including those of Karan, Rishi, Mazumdar and another person to the Forensic Science Laboratory to check for any deleted messages. We are waiting for the report and that should help us find out if anyone was threatening him. Also, the statements of his two friends with whom he spoke will be important.” An officer said that in case they do not find anyone having driven Joseph to commit suicide, there was an option of filing a C Summary report filed in cases where an FIR is registered due to “mistake in law or facts”. The inspector further said that a few days before the suicide, Karan had climbed the ledge of the 12th floor flat after a Rs 2,000 note had fallen on it. “As per three statements that we have recorded, Karan used a dog leash to maintain his balance as he climbed on the ledge attached to the 12th floor house, while he was picking up the currency note. When the watchman and a neighbour on the 11th floor saw it, they rushed to the house. Later, it turned out that he was picking up the currency note,” Thackeray said. When contacted, Shah dismissed allegations that he had tortured Joseph as baseless. “I don’t think it is in the spirit that Karan would want. Lots of people are jumping to conclusions, but I feel bad for his mother. I feel sad that we did not get to record more music,” he said. Shah also described Joseph as a beautiful person and a honest musician. “He was one guy who understood me. But I don’t know why he did it. It’s something I’ll wonder about for the rest of my life,” he said. Shah added, “Unfortunately, the last image I have of him is of a broken man.” For all the latest Cities News, download Indian Express App

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